Creating Skills
Recognize when new skills would be valuable and create them. Follow the Agent Skills specification.
When to Create a New Skill
- •Repeated patterns: Same pattern explained multiple times
- •Mistakes: Same error repeatedly
- •User corrections: "Do it this way, not that way"
- •Better approaches: More effective pattern discovered
- •Domain knowledge: Specialized context not already captured
Skill Structure
code
.cursor/skills/
└── skill-name/
├── SKILL.md # Required
├── scripts/ # Optional
├── references/ # Optional
└── assets/ # Optional
SKILL.md Format
YAML frontmatter + Markdown body.
Required Frontmatter
yaml
--- name: skill-name description: What the skill does and when to use it. Use when [triggers]. ---
Name (Required)
- •1–64 chars, lowercase alphanumeric and hyphens only
- •Must match the parent directory name
- •No leading/trailing hyphens, no consecutive hyphens
Description (Required)
- •1–1024 chars
- •Third person; describe WHAT and WHEN
- •Include trigger keywords for discovery
Body Template
markdown
# Skill Title ## When to Use [Trigger scenarios] ## Instructions [Concise, actionable steps] ## Examples [Concrete examples]
Best Practices
- •Keep SKILL.md under ~500 lines; move details to
references/ - •Be concise; only add context the agent doesn’t already have
- •One concept per skill
- •Update or remove when patterns evolve